Let’s Ripple! Kids Ask Grandparents to Read Stories to Them Using Cool New Online Service

DENVER --(Business Wire)-- Nov 19, 2009 Ripple, a new service that lets you read stories aloud online, is striking a chord with adults and kids alike. Business travelers and soldiers are reading to their children back home. Relatives are keeping in touch with grandkids, nieces and nephews long distance. And the four- to eight-year-old crowd is blissfully listening to favorite books again and again.

Using Ripple is simple. You just pick a book from the Ripple Library, choose the child(ren) you want to read it to and read it aloud into Ripple’s digital recorder. Kids listen to their Ripple stories on the Ripple player, which is a free download. The popular Black Lagoon picture books and Dr. Wayne Dyer’s New York Times bestseller Incredible You are among the fun titles in the Ripple Library.

“Ripple has given me the perfect way to connect with my five-year-old grandson as he develops his reading skills,” says Bill Spiers of Your Book Partners in Atlanta, Georgia. “His family is stationed at an Army post in Germany and Ripple puts me right there with him.”

Kids love hearing stories, particularly when they are read by a favorite adult. And research shows that read-aloud time in the early years is vital for later school success. Children can listen to Ripple recordings at home or on the go, and they follow along with the actual book in hand.

Most importantly, kids confirm that Ripple passes the “cool” test. “My grandpa lives in Nevada,” says Lauren, an eight-year-old in Montana. “With Ripple, it’s like I can have my grandpa with me whenever I want.”

Users can buy a single recording session for $9.95 or a package that brings the per-recording price as low as $4.58. Ripple is also supporting schools and libraries. To find out how your local school or library can take part, see www.RippleReader.com.

Ripple’s mission is to promote children’s literacy, strengthen U.S. schools and foster connections between children and the important adults in their lives. For more information, visit www.RippleReader.com or call 888-339-0950, extension 708.